Compassion...Working with Troubled and Troubling Kids...

“Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it.”

― Henri J.M. Nouwen

 

Are You aware that you are Unfinished?

Education does not make us educable.

It is our awareness of being unfinished
that makes us educable.

  -Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

 

 

Remaining Open to Continuous Learning

“The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something.

 

That is the only thing that never fails.

That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.

Learning is the thing for you.”

― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

 

 

 

 

"The visions we offer our children shape the future.
It matters what those visions are.
Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies.
Dreams are maps.“

-Carl Sagan

 

Generosity..

“Positive values develop in a climate of mutual concern where individuals treat others as persons of value. Living in mutual concern with significant others gives life meaning and purpose.”

     ( Bendtro, Larson, 2006)

 

      ( Bendtro, Larson, 2006)

The Power Of Teachers...

“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”

--Haim G. Ginott

Reflective Practice...